106 
A VOYAGE TO 
[East Coast. 
1802. 
October. 
Friday 22. 
Saturday 23 
Sunday 24. 
Monday 25 
(Atlas, 
PI. XIII.) 
Wednes. 27. 
Thurs. 28. 
west of the first reefs, but its existence is very doubtful ; for all that 
M. de Bougainville says of it (II, 163) is, that “ some even thought 
“ they saw low land to the south-west of the breakers.” 
Next day at noon, we were in 15* 12' south, and 149 0 2' east ; 
the current had set half a knot to the N. N. W., and many of the 
former kinds of birds, as also boobies and petrels, were seen. Hitherto 
we had kept up nearly to the wind, in order to gain an offing from 
the coast and Barrier Reefs ; but next morning the course was directed 
N. W. At noon, latitude 13 0 47', longitude 148° 39' : many boobies 
seen, and some petrels and tropic birds. On the 25th, a shag flew 
round the ship, and a large flock of petrels was seen : latitude 
at noon, 12 0 55', longitude 147 0 23', and the current setting more 
than a mile an hour to the west. At eight in the evening, when we 
hauled to the wind, there was no bottom at 130 fathoms. 
In the morning of the 27th, a small land bird, resembling a 
linnet, was seen ; at noon we were in io° 28' south and 146° 7' east, 
and the current had set W. N. W., three quarters of a mile an hour, 
since the 25th. The wind, which had been at south-east, then shifted 
suddenly to north, and blew fresh with squally weather ; but at 
midnight it veered to south-east again. These changes were accom- 
panied with thunder, lightning and rain ; indications, as I feared, of 
the approaching north-west monsoon. We lay to, during a part 
of the night; and at day-break bore away again upon our north- 
western course. At eight o’clock, breakers were seen extending 
from S. W. by W. to N. by. E., distant from two to six miles ; there 
was a small gap in them, bearing N. by W. - W., but we hauled up 
north-east, to windward of the whole, and made more sail. I ven- 
tured to bear away at ten ; and at noon our latitude was 9 0 51' 36", 
and longitude 145 0 45*' by time keeper. No reefs were then in sight; 
but in steering west, we passed through a rippling of tide or current, 
and a single breaker was seen from the mast head, at three o’clock, 
bearing S. W. four or five miles. 
These reefs lie nearly a degree to the eastward of those first 
